The Christian Sower (Keresztény Magvető), the quarterly review of the Unitarian Church is the oldest periodical in Transylvania. It was founded 150 years ago by the most prominent Unitarian intellectuals of those times. Its first editors were János Kriza who was later elected bishop of the Church and Lajos Nagy professor and later rector of the Unitarian College. Their initial aim was to create a periodical for the Unitarians, to help the preachers with ceremonial texts, as well as to present studies about the Unitarian past and important figures of Unitarianism.
The first volume was published in 1861 and it was rather an almanac. The next three volumes were also published yearly. Beginning with 1870 József Ferencz started to publish it as a quarterly. From now on the review got a more and more cultural-scientific character. Beyond the ceremonial texts it published philosophical and pedagogical studies, biographies, historical and statistical writings, news from the church-life, book-reviews, as well as miscellaneous news. Beginning with 1877 Dénes Péterfi became the editor of the review and until 1910 he did his best to make the Christian Sower not only a church-review but a well known publication of humanistic culture, of free religious thinking. In this period beyond the leading Unitarian thinkers a lot of university professors became collaborators of the review. The tragical end of World War I put an end to the Sower. In 1920, now in Romania, there was founded a Unitarian Literary Society. Beginning with 1922 they restarted the review giving to it a more literary-scientific character. Its editors were the well known literary historian István Borbély and Albert Vári, professor of theology. In 1944, at the end of World War II the review quitted its appearance. The communist rule oppressed the churches and strictly controlled their publications. Due to some liberalization in 1971 the Christian Sower could be started again, now as the only review of the Unitarian Church. Though it was censored it could publish ceremonial texts and some theological, historical and philosophical studies. Its editor, up to his death (1996) was János Erdő, professor of theology, then bishop. Two appendices complete the study: the bibliographical data of the review, the list of its off-prints published in the collection of Keresztény Magvető füzetei (Booklets of Christian Sower).
Address: 400105 Cluj-Napoca, B-dul 21 Decembrie 1989, nr. 9
Telephone: +40 264 593236, +40 364 405557, +40 364 405558; Fax: +40 264 595927
Postal address: 400105 Cluj-Napoca, B-dul 21 Decembrie 1989, nr. 9
The Editorial Board welcomes papers centered on the history and theology of the Unitarian religious traditions, or related liberal religion.
We accept submissions in the form of short and long articles as well as reviews of books. Short articles ideally run to no more than 20,000 characters (including spaces and footnotes); long papers between 30,000 and 50,000 characters. Reviews should not exceed 15,000 characters.
Submissions will undergo a double-blind peer review. We do not charge any fees for article submissions, processing or publication.
Please follow the Author Guidelines.
All the materials received for publishing from national and international authors are subject to the „Peer Review” process to evaluate the quality of the manuscripts received for publication in the journal Keresztény Magvető.
The goal of this procedure is to help the authors improve their scripts with the aid of external reviewers.
Evaluation criteria:
Since their reception of the manuscript, in 60 days’ time, the reviewers will fill the journal’s peer review (MODEL), establishing the score and they will send to the editor-in-chief the evaluation’s result.
Upon completion of the review process, authors will be notified whether or not the manuscripts have been accepted for publication. In the event of rejection of the manuscript, the review team will give reasons for its decision, and will in most cases recommend changes for future publication.
Peer Review Committee
The issues of the Christian Seeder from 1861 to 2018 can be found at the following link:
https://epa.oszk.hu/kereszteny_magveto
For domestic subscriptions: a review is 20 RON, a yearly subscription 80 RON
For foreign subscriptions: yearly subscription 5000 HUF (+postal fee to Hungary) or 20 Euro (+postal fee)
Subscription intention can be indicated at the Publishing Office (Melinda Kinga Mezei):
postal address: 400105 Cluj, B-dul. 21 Decembrie 1989 nr. 9.
telephone: +40 364 405557
Please send the subscription amount to one of the following bank account numbers:
Account owner: Unitarian Church, Cluj, România, B-dul. 21 Decembrie 1989 nr. 9
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